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PeaceWorks’ Annual Meeting: inspiring!

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By Mary Hladky

For the first time, PeaceWorks-KC used Zoom to hold its Annual Meeting, with 57 persons attending on March 7. It was both inspiring and happy. We were serenaded with joyful live music, played our homemade Peace Jeopardy, and learned how much PeaceWorks-KC accomplished during a very long, difficult COVID-19 year.

PeaceWorks-KC was financially supported by its members and received a very generous donation from the Benedictine Sisters. We posted, at various spots in KC MO, four billboards calling for a nuclear-weapon-free world. We celebrated the entry into force of the international Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (the Ban Treaty), started a book club, and are in the process of developing a peace walk.

I am proud to be part of this hardworking organization that continues “the work” no matter the challenging times!

Through our online process, we selected these leaders during the Annual Meeting.

Board officers. We re-elected to one-year terms Co-chairs Sunny Jordan Hamrick, Cris Mann, and Henry Stoever; Vice Chair Mary Hladky (myself); Treasurer Dave Pack; and Secretary Spencer Graves.

Board members. We re-elected to two-year terms Directors Ann Suellentrop and Leigh Woody. Continuing as directors are Charles Carney, Christopher Overfelt, and Kristin Scheer. In addition, Bennette Dibben, our staff assistant, attends Board meetings.

Nominating Committee. We elected (or re-elected) to this committee Charles Carney, Cris Mann, and myself.

After election results were announced, three contestants vied in the game Peace Jeopardy, developed by Jim Hannah and some Board members. The contestants, chosen for their dedicated work for peace and justice in the KC area, were Michael Savwoir, union activist and retired Teamster; Kathy Downing, of the local coordinating committee of the Poor People’s Campaign; and Yolanda Huet-Vaughn, MD, war resister and founder of Argentine Family Health. They tackled “answers” and came up with “questions” such as “Who is Harriet Tubman?” and “What is the greenhouse effect?” After the meeting, Hannah said the best thing about Jeopardy is that everyone hearing an “answer” tries to figure out the question before the contestants do. That at least seemed to be happening during our Annual Meeting, with one participant, Rachel MacNair, providing a question (Who is John Woolman?) when the contestants were stumped. Fun!

 

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Man hanging origame peace cranes.